Outgrowing Resident Evil

[Guest]

I don't really mind the newer games, even if Chris is seemingly on steroids or eating way too many cans of spinach.

[Vixtro]

I don't really mind the newer games, even if Chris is seemingly on steroids or eating way too many cans of spinach.

I like to think Chris found some sort of 'super 'roids', that Umbrella had developed, during the course of either the original or CODE: Veronica. Well, not really, but it wouldn't be too far fetched given the supreme ridiculousness of the series for the past decade.

[Lanzagranadas]

I prefer to think he just built up muscles upon years of training. Things like Ada's dress in RE4 and Leon's teen haircut are probably even more ridiculous, but those things are hallmarks of each character, I don't mind as long as they're just aesthetics with no impact on the story.

[Ultimacloud123]

Leon may pull a stunt like Claire did and get tired of the haircut and decide to chop it off.

Giving up Resident Evil would be like giving up sugar. I have a bit of a sweet tooth or in this case a RE addiction.

[veronesis]

I got a psx the year original Resident Evil came out because of it. I just finished the campaign and extra modes for REV2. There have been some lulls and duds but I'm turning 40 this year and still love the series. Looking forward to RE 7.

... the only thing that scares me about the series is the fan fiction.

[Guest]

Resident Evil 2 was actually my first taste of the franchise, around 2000 or something. The others came marginally later on.

[Graco]

I don't really mind the newer games, even if Chris is seemingly on steroids or eating way too many cans of spinach.

I don't "hate" the newer games I just don't like how they've progressively gotten more action at the expense of atmosphere, pacing, and design both character and level.

[Canas Renvall]

I prefer to think he just built up muscles upon years of training. Things like Ada's dress in RE4 and Leon's teen haircut are probably even more ridiculous, but those things are hallmarks of each character, I don't mind as long as they're just aesthetics with no impact on the story.

In fairness, the haircut stayed but Ada did change the dress to a nice form-fitting outfit. You know... like an efficient spy would.

And I must say, I've never seen a woman in her 30s/40s make skin-tight leather pants work so well.

[Lanzagranadas]

Well that's true, her RE6 costume makes a lot more sense. Odds are she is 39 but looks younger than she looked seven years ago ... they allways have to give a delirious touch on something.

[GuardhouseMusic]

I suppose I will just enumerate what I feel are problems in the series being that everyone else has done so. Obviously, there will be overlap with others' reasons. I understand that people have liked the more recent entries to certain degrees; in my case, there is an overwhelming bias against them. I seriously disliked Revelations 2, for instance. I anticipated it greatly because I genuinely thought the first title was a solid enough entry. There were some limitations and flaws, but thus far I would say it has the most distinct ideas of the post-RE4 titles as far as atmosphere and pacing go. The game was, if you will, a happy medium between action set pieces and (albeit sorta linear) exploration. REV2's sparse amounts of ideas, to me, are either cobbled together Frankenstein's monsters of post-RE4, or ones that do not quite pan out (Kafka references). My biggest takeaway from it was the Glasp. Well done, although the OHK aspect of them was- to quote Gene's criticism of the Reaper enemy in RE5- "rude." Sure, I appreciated the Barry nostalgia machine, but it was enough when he was a character in RE5 mercs. I think I fit firmly in the "drained by it all" camp that some who posted here are also in. I do not expect RE7 to be the proverbial rejuvenation for me.

Anyhow
*Co-op. This would have to be the most crucial facet in need of complete excision. It never ceases to confuse me that those at Capcom have the option of relegating this to their multiplayer modes but are so resistant to the idea. People play those modes a significant deal, and their replayability speaks volumes as to why there is little reason for co-op to represent the entire game. Look at the way Silent Hill, RE1/REmake, and hell, Alien: Isolation deal with other people in the diegesis: they are a fleeting respite from the predominating isolation the character and the player feels. Sure, there may be communications with other characters. Hell, there may be even certain scenes where one accompanies you directly. However, those two devices usually just lead to the main character getting the rug pulled out from them by having the communication cut or the escort killed/taken away somehow. Even RE4 routinely does this- and to be clear, I think that game is still deserving of praise. I praised Revelations 1 above, but the co-op in that game does not contribute to any aesthetic/tone so much as it does not hinder the positives too much. So cut it out. I am sure there is a way to effectively pull off co-op in a horror campaign, but thus far Capcom has not done it.

*Enemies with firearms and melee weapons that can just as easily be used by the player characters. I prefer enemies to be on unequal footing when it comes to capabilities. It adds to their strange, non-human quality overall. For instance, take the cultist Ganados post-Plaga sprout. A chilling concept based on the idea that something which at first seemed to have so little vestiges of humanity suddenly has perverted it even more, down to the human head hanging from its stump. Except for late-stage zombies in the older entries, horror titles should not make mooks out of enemies. They should not just be an "inconvenience."

*Escalation. No more holding onto the idea that the story stakes need to be on a global scale. Admittedly, REV2 "solves" this problem, but it is too bad the location they use throughout is uninteresting. Give us a common location, familiarize us with it, and then fuck that familiarity squarely in the eye. Don't just tear down walls or make us backtrack for the sake of it.

*Familiar Characters (See also the Die Hard film franchise). There is something about a character having experience in money-making genre fiction that somehow makes them nigh invincible plotwise- Claire in Degeneration aside. What ever happened to PTSD, wariness after trauma, growing weaker as one grows older? Sure, most of the characters are not even pushing 50, but I have ceased caring either way. What was significant about the first game is that these are all SWAT-esque specialists who are nevertheless decimated save for a few based on lack of preparation. Stop it. Give me new blood, but do not try to convince me right off the bat that they are totally worthwhile replacements. Go back to people affected by an outbreak rather than characters who have done it all in previous entries. Basically, remove a sense of plot empowerment.

*Formula. A buzzing chainsaw is about as common in modern day RE as an uninspired Silent Hill game featuring Pyramid Head. I don't care that it is technically a different implement, or it is made out of the BOW's flesh. I know what you are doing, and I do not find it amusing.

There is definitely more, but I will not bother- at least for now. The very least Capcom can do to make my ears perk up for RE7 is announcing that it has a strictly single-player campaign. These became more rambling than well-argued as I continued with them, but again, I am drained to the point of nitpicking. Woe is me, it's not my fault it's theirs, yadda yadda.

[News Bot]

or ones that do not quite pan out (Kafka references).

The Kafka motif is one of the best things about the game and pans out fine. However, it pans it much better in the Japanese version, which doesn't censor or alter most of the references because of implied "incest" undertones.

Barry's nostalgia machine is mostly isolated to the English version too, considering that's where most of his original shitty mistranslated lines came from. I believe the Japanese version has only two ("I was almost a sandwich" and "I have this") since they were the only ones that were actually in the original script, and aren't nearly as rapturous as they're delivered in English.

[Grem]

References to literature in a Resident Evil game feels awkward to me. It's like they're trying to give the game some sort of intellectual aspiration despite the fact that it's a cheesy and convoluted B movie story. It just comes off as weird. But hey, at least they are encouraging younger generations to read some classic books, which is fine, I guess.

[News Bot]

References to literature in a Resident Evil game feels awkward to me. It's like they're trying to give the game some sort of intellectual aspiration despite the fact that it's a cheesy and convoluted B movie story. It just comes off as weird. But hey, at least they are encouraging younger generations to read some classic books, which is fine, I guess.

There's no problem with it. However, considering the English version censors the most relevant Kafka references, it's understandable. They feel tacked on in English, but have actual meaning and importance to the characters in the Japanese script.

[Grem]

There's no problem with it. However, considering the English version censors the most relevant Kafka references, it's understandable. They feel tacked on in English, but have actual meaning and importance to the characters in the Japanese script.

I'm not denying any of this. This is just a problem of execution and genre. Resident Evil tends to be cheesy and superficial. Adding some "depth" by basing the story on a classic writer seems strange even if it has meaning for the story Capcom is trying to tell.

[News Bot]

Outside of the goofy English translations, the games aren't inherently cheesy. Twin Peaks is cheesy, this series is not. The story for this game and REV1 weren't based on classic writers, they are simply referenced within the plot for plot reasons. In REV1, Dante is referenced because Veltro is a nationalist Italian terrorist group and they spew a near-religious rhetoric. In REV2, Kafka is referenced because of how Alex feels about fear, which his works heavily involve, and her "brother", with one of his most famous stories focusing on siblings which tied directly into the game's theme of family. They add depth to the characters while also allowing for neat little parallels (REV1's progression is almost an exact match with The Divine Comedy) and generally giving well-read players something to look at and ponder.